What's the Latest Thing You've Seen at the Cinema II

Avengers - Age of Ultron

By now, this has become a thoroughly predictable film series. The same mix of over the top action, lighthearted comedy with the occasional bit of slapstick, tiny bit of character development, and a plot that might look simple on paper but deftly gives sufficient room for the huge cast of heroes (including most supporting cast members from last films) to shine. 

Recommended if you like f what Iron Man I, II, III, Captain America I, II, Hulk, Thor I, II and Avengers I (and yes, Guardians of the Galaxy) brought you and want more. And a must if you follow the overarching Gauntlet of Infinity story arc (the closing dialogue and in-credits trailer finally provide confirmation).

EJ

Saw this last night and it's a really, really good action action film. A return to the glories of Mad Max 2 after that terrible third movie with Tina Turner. Highly recommended as a big screen spectacle.

Far from the Madding Crowd;

A lot to live up to , this one; a great book (along with Under the Greenwood tree, my favourite Hardy novel) and a remake of a film already considered a classic with an amazing cast.  So how did FFTMC 2015 do?  Pretty well on the whole.  The cinematography and scenery was excellent.  I felt that the only really weak character was Tom Sturridge's take on Frank Troy.  Highlight was Matthias Schoenarts playing Gabriel Oak and Carey Mulligan's Bathsheba Everdene.

Mad Max

GREAT to see proper physical stunts. What it lacks in subtlety it makes up for in action .....I think Tom Hardy had about three lines in the whole film.

M

Yes M, that's the definition of a good action movie, no plot, no dialogue, no romance, just things moving quickly then being blown up.

Apparently there was comparatively little (by contemporary standards anyway) CGi in Fury Road - the producers drafted in around 150 Cirque du Soleil performers to do a lot of the stunts.

I read about Tom Hardy's apology to George Miller and so watched the press conference on YouTube. TH did apologise but I think that it his frustrations was entirely understandable, as an actor you probably rely on your professionalism to read and learn a script and then deliver the the lines. In this film the actors were entirely in the hands of the director, they had to just TRUST what he was doing and how it was being pieced together. I got the feeling that that there was a lot of affection from Miller to Hardy.

Kevin, I agree there was a not a lot of romance, but there was no lack of emotion .....'Witness me!!!'.

M

Mad Max 4

Miller's follow-up to the films that defined the steampunk western. The official theme is survival, but the theme that stayed with me is that post-nuclear inbreeding has its issues.

EJ

OK Richard I have spotted my error when posting earlier:

Jurassic World a couple of hours of entertainment, the sillier the further into the franchise they get.

Good SFX.

We saw it in 2D certainly better than the 3D Imax assault we suffered the last time we went.

It was great in 3D - plenty of depth instead of in your face stuff. Interesting to see that 50% of tickets have been for the 3D version.

The family and I saw it in 3D. It was not too bad, but to be honest, I couldn't really care less about 3D and regularly find it to be a distraction, rather than enhancement. 80% of the screenings are 3D in our local cinemas.

The movie itself is fun.

Jurassic World 

Expected something on par with Jurassic Park 3, but this was a whole lot more fun - Spielbergian melodrama and sweet humour add a lighter touch, refreshing after a summer of movies full of people who take themselves more seriously than the audience.

EJ

Minions

Took my Godson to see this. Definitely aimed at the younger market. I am not saying that you will sit and be bored, just that there is little in the way of reward aimed at the older viewer.

The film itself is OK. It does get too plot focussed towards the end as it tries to complete its story arc; as this is so off the wall I think that a little less plot and more fun would have worked better.

The youngsters all had a ball.

M

Last Monday (6th July) saw the last of the Dead's Fare Thee Well shows from Soldier Field. Picture quality was superb, SQ was generally good (bit too much emphasis on the guitar for my taste, and not enough bass).  The playing was generally great as was the atmosphere but I was really disappointed by the setlist of this particular night - too many ballads, too many of Bobby's country songs, too much of the 80s/MTV era (I favour either primal or jazzy/spacey Dead). And of course, there was that enormous Jerry-shaped hole. And Phil's terrible singing.  Still glad I saw it though, despite all of that.

Jurassic World

This is a film which does not withstand any analysis whatsoever, but it does hit some good emotional beats.

The theme is, yet again, hubris .....and works on the basic premise of gathering as much two legged meat into a restricted area as possible and then setting monsters loose upon them, both human and pre-historic.

Saw it in 2D. Quiet enjoyed it, but I suspect I won't bother to buy it on disc. I have the first three and this adds nothing new.

The first is still the best.

M

Saw this magnificent 1958 Orson Welles noir at the Greenwich Picture House last week. Everyone knows that famous 3' 20" opening crane shot, but Welles' camera moves with a fluidity and freedom rarely seen in American cinema (especially these days). Heston and Leigh are a bit wooden, but Welles' towering performance as the sweating, overweight corrupt Police Captain Hank Quinlan makes up for their deficiencies.

'Salt of the Earth' - Wim Wenders film about Sebastio Salgado.

G

Hope it was better than 'Wings of Desire'.

C.

It was profound, and brilliant - I thought.

G

Salgado, yes.

Wenders, I'm not so sure.

C.

It is all Salgado,,,

G

That's on my "to see" list G - love Salgado!

What I saw was a beauty in all the photographs - The landscapes of course but even those most harrowing are somehow beautiful too.

G

Gawd bless the BFI, always restoring old masterpieces and showing them at the cinema, including Dziga Vertov's 1928 masterpiece Man With A Movie Camera. It packs more into its 68 minutes than most film-makers manage in their entire careers.

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation

Fun instalment of the film series, following the formula to a tee but with a few small twists to keep things fresh enough. For the first time in a long while, I've been truly impressed by an action scene (the bike race). But the real reason to see this is a stunning Rebecca Ferguson, who steals every scene she is in.

EJ

+1 Motorcycle stunts were amazing and yep Rebecca Ferguson stole every scene she was in.  I also liked the Opera scene.